Why Twitter's Latest Move Could Have a Serious Impact on Bitcoin, Other Cryptocurrencies

Twitter is in the process of establishing a payments system that might one day include the use of crypto.

Twitter CEO Elon Musk has been looking for ways to further monetize the social media platform since taking over last October.

In November, he increased the price of Twitter Blue, the premium service that involves account authentication, to $7.99 per month.

At the time, Musk said it was an effort to combat fake accounts that post misinformation and hate speech. He reasoned that people or institutions running bot farms would be deterred from managing thousands of accounts if people had to pay for them individually.

Also in November, Musk made it clear in a livestreamed meeting with advertisers that he had plans to allow for Twitter to be a vehicle through which users could spend money and extract funds to bank accounts.

At about the same time, Twitter had filed registration paperwork with the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) that would allow it to process payments.

Payment Tools Are In Progress At Twitter

Roughly two months later, it is being reported that the microblogging site is laying down a foundation for just such an enterprise.

It is speculated that part of the plan for payments would eventually involve using cryptocurrency.

Esther Crawford, Twitter product management director, is working on payment system logistics and has formed a small team, according to the Financial Times. 

The payment system would initially handle fiat currencies, but could be built to one day facilitate crypto, according to the report. 

If Twitter is eventually able to handle cryptocurrency, it would give it a high-profile mainstream presence.

In the past, Musk has allowed for his electric vehicle company Tesla  (TSLA) - Get Free Report to accept dogecoin for payments, so it would not be his first venture into using cryptocurrency.

The possibility that dogecoin could be used at Twitter would offer it a high visibility boost and, perhaps, an opportunity to more effectively compete with others such as bitcoin.